Yonkers is located in
Westchester County, north of
New York City on the
Hudson River in the
Southern Region of the state.
Originally a village of the Manhattan people, the site of the present-day city was purchased by the Dutch West India Company in 1639. In 1672, the Philipse family acquired the settlement, then due to their Royalist leanings lost it to Continental forces. When the railroad arrived in 1849, the town grew swiftly as an industrial center. Yonkers, extending about two miles along the Hudson River, was incorporated in 1872.
It is now a major industrial center with four and a half miles of waterfront and the fourth largest city in New York State. Yonkers is home of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, New York Medical College, Columbia University School of Social Work, a museum and planetarium, historical sites, and more than 100 parks and playgrounds. The city also boasts 38 distinctive neighborhoods.
Yonkers is part of the New York, New York metro area.
